Feed roller for packaging machines



Aug. 26, 1952 L. SALFISBERG ETAL 2,608,405

FEED ROLLER FOR PACKAGING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 24, 1950Is fib/lafi y we 5m mfwm Lmwm Z Wwd m e e w; I 5

Aug. 26, 1952 L. L. SALFISBERG ETAL 2,608,405

FEED ROLLER FOR PACKAGING MACHINES 5 Sheets-$heet 2 Filed Oct. 24, 19505 Sheets-Sheet 3 mmfoa Zemj/ L .19 (x ffi ergfleceased far;

L. L. SALFISBERG ET AL FEED ROLLER FOR PACKAGING MACHINES Aug. 26, 1952Filed Oct. 24, 1950 dn Char! Patented Aug. 26, 1952 FEED ROLLER FORPACKAGING MACI H N 'ES Leroy L. Salfisberg, deceased, late of SouthOrange, N. J by Herman G. Kopald, New York, N. Y., and Lloyd I.Volckening, Glen Ridge, N. J executors, and Charles Marshall Salfisberg,South Orange, N. J., assignors to Ivers-Lee Company, Newark, N. J., acorporation of Delaware Application October 24, 1950, Serial No. 191,809

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates in general to rollers for feeding strips or websof irregular cross section, and more particularly the inventioncontemplates packaging machines wherein two layers of flexible packagingmaterial such as chlorinated rubber or metal foil having a thermoplasticcoating are drawn from a supply roll into juxtaposed closely spacedrelation adjacent an article feeding an depositing mechanism whichdeposits articles between the layers, after which the layers are sealedtogether around the articles and travel to a severing mechanism fordividing the strip of packages into groups of packages or individualpackages, the feeding rollers embodying the invention being employed fordrawing the package strip from the sealing rollers to the severingmechanism. A machine of this general type is disclosed and claimed inUnited States Patent No. 2,180,966 dated November 21, 1939, the feedrollers comprising two parallel rotatable brushes which frictionallyreceive and move the package strip between them.

The package strip as it passes between the said rollers is ofnon-uniform thickness because of the articles between the layers ofpackaging material and the bristles of the feed brushes flex tocompensate for the variations in thickness of the package strip and atthe same time permit the portions to frictionally pull the package stripfrom the sealing rollers.

A prime object of the present invention is to provide novel and improvedfeed rollers which shall exert a more positive and uniform pull on thepackage strip than can be effected by the brushes.

Another object is to provide novel and improved feed rollers which shallhave soft or easily yieldable peripheral surfaces to frictionally engageand conform to the irregular surfaces of the package strip, and meansfor creating suction at the points of contact of the peripheral surfaceof the feed rollers with the package strip to ensure a firm grip of thepackage strip by the Still another object is to provide a novel andimproved construction and combination of such feed rollers and meansmounting and rotating them whereby to maintain a firm pull on thepackage strip and yet permit movement of the rollers-relatively to thestrip when a pre-determined resistance to pulling of the package stripis encountered, thereby to prevent tearing or other damage to the strip.

Other objects, advantages and results of the invention will be broughtout-by the following description in conjunction withthe accompany ingdrawings in which r Figure 1 is a schematic side elevational view ofsealing rollers, feeding rollers and strips of packaging material,feeding rollers being constructed in accordance with the invention andthe sealing rollers beingshown in transverse section;

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view approximately on theplane of the line 2-2 of Figure 1; v

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of one of the feed rollers; a

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view approximately on theplane of the line 4-4 of Figure3; y

Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view approximatelyon the plane of the line 55 of Figure 2 showing the feed rollersengaging the package-strip between two adjacent article-containingcompartments; and

Figure 6 is a similar view showing the rollers.

engaging the package strip atone of the articlecontaimng compartments. V

For the purpose of illustrating the principles of the invention, it hasbeen shown in conjunction with a known type of packaging machine such asthose described in United States Patents Nos. 2,083,617 dated June 15,1937 and No. 2,180,966 dated November 21, 1939, the machine in generalcomprising means for supplying layers or strips A and B of suitableflexible packaging material such as chlorinated rubber, or cellophane ormetal foil having thermoplastic coatings, into juxtaposition beneath thedischarge chute C of an article depositing mechanism which deposits thearticles, such as medicinal tablets between the layers as the, latterpass over sealing rollers D and E which frictionally contact with andreceive the layers A and B be tween them. The sealing rollers aremounted on and rotated in opposite directions by shafts F from anysuitable source of power. The rollers have complemental registeringrecesses G to provide clearance spaces between them for the articles H,such as pharmaceutical tablets, the recesses being equidistantly spacedcircumferentially of the rollers and the tablets being fed in timedrelation to the rotation of the rollers. Between and around the recessesG the peripheries of the rollers have serrated surfaces for crimping andpressing together the layers A and B around the articles to formarticle-containing compartments between the layers.

Where the material of the layers is heat-seal able, the rollers areheated by suitable electrical heating devices J of known character whichheat the packaging material or the thermoplastic coating thereon at thesame time that pressure is applied to the layers by the serratedsurfaces of the rollers. The sealing rollers thus produce a packagestrip comprising a plurality of equidistantly spaced article-containingcompartments which is later divided into individual packages eachcomprising one compartment and a portion of the sealed stripssurrounding it, or into groups of packages. The formation of thepackagesas hereinbefore described is known in the art and no claim ofnovelty is made thereon.

The strips A and B of packaging material are withdrawn from the supplyrolls by the sealing rollers D and E, and the feed rollers K and Lembodying the invention cooper-ate with the sealing rollers to maintainthe package strip under tension and feed the strip to a shearingmechanism or other device or point (not shown).

As shown, each said roller includes a tubular core or sleeve I,preferably of steel, having end flanges 2 between which is secured onthe periphery of the sleeve, a layer of soft yieldable or resilientsubstance 3, preferablyrubber. Between the flanges 2, the sleeve I has aplurality of holes 4 extending therethrough, and the rubber layer 3 hasapertures 5 each registering with one of the holes 4 in the sleeve.Also, the rubber layer has a plurality of recesses 6 in its poripheryinto the bottom of each of which leads at least one of the apertures 5.As shown, the recesses 6 are rectangular and are arranged in. aplurality of longitudinally spaced circumferential rows, the walls ofthe recesses comprising circumferential and longitudinal thin webs orribs 1 that are integral with the rubber layer, the ribs or webs Iyielding to accommodate the package compartments H as shown in Figure 6and prevent crushing of the tablets or breaking of the compartmentwalls.

Each sleeve I is mounted on a hollow shaft 8 the outer end of which isclosed at 9 while the other end is connected to a suitable suctionproducing apparatus (not shown). Each sleeve i has. an extension 10 atone end beyond the flange 2 and said extension is journaled in a machineframe M, while the end of the corresponding shaft is secured at N inanother portion of the frame. With this construction, the two sleevesare rotatable on their respective shafts 8, and the parts are soadjusted that norlongitudinal rolls of the holes 4 in juxtaposition tothe zones of contact of the rubber layers 3 of the rolls with thepackage strip, as shown in Figures 2 and 5. Accordingly, when suction isapplied to the shafts 8, it will tend to form a firm frictional contactbetween the peripheries of the rollers and the package strip, inaddition to the frictional contact incident to the resiliency of therubber layers 3.

The feed rollers are driven simultaneously in opposite directions by anysuitable means, but as shown the two sleeves are geared together bypinions i2 and one of the sleeves is positively driven from any suitablesource of power through a friction clutch. As shown, a gear 0 connectedto the power source meshes with a gear it which is rotatable on thesleeve 8 and frictionally engaged at opposite sides by clutch discs l5and i5 the former of which is fast connected to the corresponding sleevewhile the other is longitudinally slidable and relatively rotatable onsaid sleeve. A compression spring I6 is interposed between the latterclutch disc l5 and adjusting nuts ll screwed 0n the sleeve, whereby thefrictional pressure exerted by the spring IE on the clutch gear [3 bythe discs i4 and I5 can be adjusted. With this construction, it will beobserved that when a pre-determined resistance to rotation of the feedrollers is encountered, for example by stopping of the sealing rollers Dand consequent holding back of the package strip, the discs i4 and [5may slip relatively to the clutch gear 3 to compensate for the stoppageor slowing down of the feed rollers.

In actual operation of a packaging machine of this character, the feedrollers K and L rotate at a slightly faster peripheral speed than thesealing rollers so that the package strip between the two sets ofrollers is maintained under tension, and the clutch as above describedeffectually. compensates for any irregularities in the relation of therotation of the two sets of rollers, thereby maintaining substantiallyuniform tension on the package strip between the sealing rollers and thefeed rollers to prevent breaking or tearing of the package strip.

While the now preferred embodiment of the invention has been described,it should be understood that this is primarily for the purpose ofillustrating the principles of the invention and that the structuraldetails of the apparatus may be widely modified and changed within thespirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a packaging machine, the combination of means for feeding apackage strip that includes a plurality of layers of material sealedtogether at certain points to form a plurality of material-containingcompartments spaced longitudinally of the strip, said means including apair of opposed parallel rotatable rollers to receive between them saidpackage strip having the material-containing compartments, means forrotating said rollers in opposite direc tions, at least one of saidrollers having a soft elastic peripheral surface; to contact said package strip and in which there are closely spaced apertures, saidperipheral surface having a plurality of circumferential ribs and aplurality of longitudinal ribs intersecting the circumferential ribs toform such apertures, and means for connecting said apertures to suitablesuctionproducing apparatus, whereby said package strip is drawn intocontact with said roller by suc- 5 tion and is moved with said rollersbyjoint action of said suction and said elastic peripheral surface.

2. In a packaging machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the said meansfor rotating said rollers in opposite directions includes a gearedconnection between said rollers, a driving element and a slip clutchconnection between said driving element and one of said rollers.

3. In a packaging machine as defined in claim 1, the said one rollerhaving a sleeve core and a soft elastic layer thereon, with one end ofsaid core extending beyond the corresponding end of said elastic layerand said sleeve core having holes in register with said apertures, andwith the addition of a hollow shaft for each roller having said sleevecore rotatable thereon and having an opening in register with the holesin said sleeve core juxtaposed to the point of contact of said elasticlayers with said package strip, and said means for rotating said rollersincluding a geared connection between said extending end portions ofsaid sleeve cores, and means for driving one of said sleeve cores.

6 a 4. In a packaging machine as defined in claim 1, a hollow shaft forsaid one roller having a radial opening in register with the apertureslocated at the zones of contact of said rollers with said package strip.

HERMAN G. KOPALD, LLOYD I. VOLCKENING, Executors of the Last Will andTestament of Leroy L. SaZfisberg, Deceased.

CHARLES MARSHALL SALFISBERG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,083,617 Salfisberg June 15,1937 2,180,966 Salfisberg Nov. 21, 1939 2,191,144 Hornbostel Feb. 20,1940 2,338,465 Street Jan. 4, 1944 2,472,440 Salfisberg June 7, 1949

